Valhalla opened on
14 June 2000 and cost £15m to build. The 6.5 minute ride takes you on a perilous journey where you experience temperatures ranging from -20 to 110 degrees
Centigrade.

It was built by Intamin and requires 35,000 square feet of gas per hour to power the flame effects alone!

As at 2000 the annual gas bill was upward of £250,000 a year. The reservoir holds 1.5 million gallons of water.

The station was designed and built by Sergei Volov
(Voloff?) and his team from Petrozavodska, Russia.

All in all there are 25 longboats that can each carry 8 passengers (2,000 people per hour).

The minimum ride height restriction is 46 inches/114cms.

Jonathon Ross attended its official opening (as did some of the stars of the Funny Girls Nightclub in Blackpool).

From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published
Friday 16th Jun 2000

"THOR blimey, it's a belter," said theme park aficionado Jonathan Ross as he and his wife Jane Goldman
opened the £15 million dark ride Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach yesterday (June 14).

The TV star said: "It's excellent," as he enjoyed a quick snack in Loki's bar overlooking the biggest
dark ride in the world. Still in his slightly damp green suit, he added: "Even though it didn't help my hair and the freezing
bit reminded me of my first flat.

"Quite scary in parts too, but I was sitting with Geoffrey Thompson and when you're with the guy who
owns the park you do feel a bit better about things.

"Although the Pepsi Max Big One is still my all-time favourite, this is now my favourite
water ride,
even if you do get very, very wet.

"Water rides normally just go up and then drop, but with this there's a whole story involved in it
and some great surprises and effects.

"It's perfect for Blackpool as the skulls and everything give it a real English seaside feel.

"Jane
and I love the Pleasure Beach. It's so quintessentially British and the best theme park in the world for the sheer quality
of rides.

"Blackpool itself is great, too, especially when you see the blokes tied to lampposts and stuff on
Sunday mornings.

"We've been here about four or five times now and remember going to Time nightclub once, but I don't
really want people to know I go to clubs for the over 25s.

"The only thing I won't go on here is the Pasaje Del Terror.

"I went on something similar in Spain and got myself in such a state I punched one of the guys dressed
up and ran out. But Jane's fearless and keeps trying to drag me on.

'I'm planning to come back for my 40th birthday so you never know."

Author and theme park junkie Jane added: "Valhalla is so original. It takes all the cool elements of
other rides and joins with a great atmosphere."

Warning! You WILL get VERY wet (Macs cost £1.50 as at 2003).

The ride is not recommended for people with asthma.

When all the effects are working, this 'show action' ride cannot be beaten for pure spectacle and adrenaline alone.

Interestingly, the ride was allegedly finished inside the building BEFORE the theming had even been thought up! (It's usually the other way around).

The management had been working on an idea for the ride - built on the space once occupied by
the Fun House - for some years and had consulted the public for their ideas and wishes.

It's possible that the idea for this dark ride was in the planning process BEFORE the Pepsi Max Big One, which actually opened some six years before Valhalla!

Attraction Services from the USA worked on the flame effects.

Techniflex Inc. from the USA worked on the water effects, including the magnificent 'water vortex'.

Others involved included Farmer Studios from UK, Allen Bradley from USA and the Heemo company from Germany.

On a sign next to the attraction are these following words from the film
'The Vikings':

"THE VIKINGS in Europe of the 8th and 9th century were dedicated to a pagan god of war, Odin.

Cramped by the confines of their barren ice-bound northlands, they exploited their skill as ship builders to spread a reign of terror unequalled in violence and brutality in all the records of history.

The greatest wish of every Viking was to die, sword in hand so they could be transported to Valhalla, where a heroes welcome awaited them from the great god Odin.

The compass was unknown and they could steer only by the sun and the stars. Once fog closed in, they were left helpless, and blind. After all, the earth was flat.

Sail too far off course and the black wind would blow them across the poison sea that lay to the west and over the edge of the World into Linbrum.

Their abiding aim was to conquer Britain - then a series of petty kingdoms, each one a jealous rival of the next.

Thus, when Vikings set forth to rob, plunder and rape England, they never sailed out of sight of land. They confined their attacks to swift overnight raids.

It was no accident that the English book of common prayer contained the sentence: